Funky Buddha Brewery – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Funky Buddha Brewery has long been on my list, ever since someone gave a sublime description of their Peanut Butter Jelly beer. “No Crusts” was not available on my visit, but the rest of their line-up exceeded expectations.

Their original location is a lounge/music venue/hookah bar with food. And craft beer. It’s certainly a unique set-up, and arriving just after midnight on a Friday when there was a show with a $7 cover, I got to see the full set-up. Much to my surprise, despite the large crowd enjoying the loud, live music, the bar was still happy to pour a flight of anything I wanted.

The creativity and quality of their beer is very impressive. They still only distribute within Florida, but their bottles made their way across the country, and to the top of RateBeer’s list, specifically their Maple Bacon Coffee Porter, which is now released to great fanfare with a festival each January.

Their newer location is a full-scale production brewery, with a very large bar, also serving food. I happened to be in town during their annual release of the Imperial version of their Maple Bacon Coffee Porter – Wide Awake, It’s Morning – which is also on BeerAdvocate’s Top 250 list. The barrel aged version – Morning Wood – is currently #24. At 9:30am, there were around 50 people in line for the bottle purchase; it was also available on tap in the bar.

I took the tour, which was an enjoyable cruise through the facility with samples along the way.

From October 2013-October 2014, I road tripped to every brewery that won a medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival - 183 breweries in 365 days! I continue to travel the country in search of the nation's best breweries, and this site now has over 450 brewery reviews from Alaska to the Virgin Islands. Check it out, or follow the journey!